AMD's Fusion chip is bringing about more changes than purely architectural, putting a little more GPU red into the traditional CPU green.
When Advanced Micro Devices decided to purchase ATI Technologies in late 2006 for a total sum of US$5.4 billion, many were overjoyed at the pairing of two tech companies - forseeing a potential hard-hitting partnership would be required for both to survive against the might of competitors like Intel.
Indeed none was as happy as ATI's main competitor, NVIDIA, with CEO Jen-Hsun Huang gleefully commenting to arstechnica:
I thought it was just impossible to get a gift like this. ATI is basically throwing in the towel, leaving us as the only stand-alone (graphics chip) company in the world.
Of course, it hasn't quite panned out as Jen-Hsun had hoped. While NVIDIA are indeed the solitary graphics chip company, ATI remain a thorn in their side. As predicted by Digitimes earlier this year, NVIDIA's market share has indeed dropped to below 60% on the back of strong AMD/ATI graphics sales according to the Steam Hardware Survey.
Now with ATI taking additional market share, parent company AMD has finally decided to absorb ATI entirely - resulting in a brand-new naming scheme.
As explained in a press release, the new branding scheme for graphics technologies will kick in from products launching later this year. Existing products will retain their ATI branding, such as the ATI Radeon HD5870, though future products will instead be named under the new AMD branding, such as a hypothetical AMD Radeon HD6870.
These changes will be rolled out across all products and segments from workstation to desktop and consumer, each identified with one of four badges:
Though the timing might appear odd, close AMD/ATI partner Sapphire approves of the decision, with Director of International Marketing Adrian Thompson quoted in the press release as saying:
We view the decision by AMD to consolidate under one brand as a good move and a natural progression for a leading technology company. It will ultimately lead to broader recognition of AMD as a CPU and GPU powerhouse.
In consolidating the ATI brand underneath the AMD umbrella, AMD is simplifying their branding markedly in preparation for the release of their first Fusion products, which quite literally are a fusion of their processor and graphics technologies in a single package. Our colleagues at PC Authority have comments from local AMD rep Brian Slattery, detailing the minimalistic though resounding changes to remaining ATI products:
ATI Catalyst drivers, along with other graphics related technology such as ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, will change to the AMD brand...
The rebranding will coincide with the launch of Ontario later this year, a Fusion chip aimed at netbooks that boasts two x86 Bobcat cores and a DirectX11-based graphics core, and it is clear that AMD is headed quite resolutely towards a unification of all its skills - with the quad-core Llano due in early 2011 - where ATI will play an integral, albeit less-emphasised role.
Like the Vision rebranding for chipsets and processors last year, the AMD branding does make for a simpler playing field, reducing the number of badges from a whopping 18 in 2009 to a mere seven by 2011. Whether the branding will have an effect on retail sales can only be speculated upon at this point in time, but it looks like AMD will be around for a good while yet.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012